Sealing cap



Aug. 25, 1964 H. RITZENHOFF SEALING CAP Filed Jan. 24, 1963 HHIIIIHH HIIHIIIIHIHIIIIIIII INVENIOR l9 Hermann RLtzenhaff ATTORNEYS United States Patent ()fitice 3,145,869, Patented Aug. 25, 1964 3,145,869 SEALING CAP Hermann Ritzenhoif, Firma Gebriider Seidel K.G., Marburg (Lahn), Germany Filed Jan. 24, 1963, Ser. No. 253,615 6 Claims. (Cl. 215-46) This invention relates to metal sealing caps for sealing containers and more particularly to metal sealing caps having strips predisposed for easy removal.

Sealingv caps for bottles, jars, cartons or similar containers are preferably firmly mounted on the container until the first occasion for opening the container. It is then desirable after the opening of the container that the opened state of the container be obvious and at the same time, it is desirable to retain a substantial portion of the original sealing cap as a closure member for the container during further use.

Various types of metal sealing caps may be used to provide these desired features. One suitable arrangement for the opening of such sealing caps is a tear-off strip. The tear-off strip is formed by predisposing weakness in an area of the sealing cap which extends around the cap. The tear-off strips have a tear-off tongue which is seized for ripping the tear-01f strip out of the sealing cap. The tear-oil tongues of the conventional sealing caps have several undesirable features. In forming the tear-off tongue and the predisposed weakness, sharp edges are frequently formed in the manufacture of the sealing cap which result in injury to the user. Moreover, tearoif tongues which are formed flush with the cap resist easy gripping and a pointed instrument or fingernail must be employed to raise the tongue to a point of gripping. Additionally, the tear-ofif tongue may be diflicult to locate on the cap. Further, the tear-off tongues can be damaged either during shipping or before the completion of the assembly operation and lose their effectivness in initiating the tear-ofi operation.

It is an object of this invention to overcome the foregoing disadvantages with a novel tear-off tongue arrangement on a tear-ofi strip in a sealing cap.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a sealing cap having a composite grasping device on a sealing cap removal device.

Still another object of this invention is providing a sealing cap having a tear-oif tongue with a non-injurious attachment which permits the tongue to be easily lifted for grasping.

These and other objects of this invention will become more apparent upon consideration of the following description taken together with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE '1 is a front elevation of parts of the cap closure of this invention before final assembly;

FIGURE 2 is a radial section taken through an assembled cap closure of this invention mounted on a container taken on line 11-11 of FIGURE 3 in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 3 is a front elevation of the assembled cap closure of FIGURE 2 on a container;

FIGURE 4 is a vertical section through the tear-off tongue portion of an assembled cap closure of FIGURE 3 taken on line IVIV in the direction of the arrows; and

FIGURE 5 is an enlargement of a portion of the radial section of FIGURE 2.

This invention provides a tear-off tongue in a sealing cap attached to a tear-off strip, which tear-01f tongue is enclosed in at least one foil part. The foil parts are attached together to enclose the tongue and an extended portion of the foil parts extends from the enclosure of the tear-off tongue.

The foil cover entirely encloses the tear-ofif tongue. The foil cover may be made of one, two or three parts, but'cornprises preferably a top foil and an inner foil. The top foil is positioned outside of the tear-off tongue on the sealing cap and the inner foil lies within the tongue in the sealing cap. The foils are larger in area than the tongue. The tongue is punched out of the sealing cap to provide apertures through the sealing cap at the tongue. Edges of the foil overlap these punched-out apertures in the sealing cap. The foils are joined together at these overlapping portions through the apertures.

The top foil is formed to extend over the tip of the tongue so that the extended portion may be grasped to bend the tongue out of its position within the sealing cap wall. When thus raised, the tongue may be grasped easily. The foils making up the foil cover may be of any suitable pliable material having tensile strength under pulling; for example, resin film materials are particularly well adapted to this purpose, but it will be understood that foils of paper and aluminum are also useful.

Referring to the drawings, FIGURE 1 shows a sealing cap 10 formed of athin metal suitable for container closures. The cap 10 has a main body 11, a tear-off strip 12, a band 13 beneath the tear-off strip 12, and a tearoif tongue 14 extending from the tear-elf strip 12 into an aperture 15 punched out of the cap 10 around the tear-off tongue 14.

The aperture 15 is a rectangle defined by the edges between the corner points A, B, C, and D. The tear-off tongue 14 is provided with notches 16 indented from its upper and lower edges. An outer foil 17 and an inner foil 18 are shown in unassembled condition in FIGURE 1. FIGURES 2 and 3 show the assembled cap 10 on a container 19.

FIGURE 2 shows the assembled cap 10 on the container 19 in a radial section taken on line IIII of FIG- URE 3. The foils 17 and 18 are in place on each side of the tear-off tongue 14. The outer foil 17 overlies the tear-off tongue 14 while the inner foil 18 lies between the tear-off tongue 14 and the container 19.

FIGURE 3 shows the assembled parts in front elevation with the outer foil 17 overlying the aperture 15, shown in dotted lines, the tear-off tongue 14, shown in dotted lines, and the inner foil 18, shown in dotted lines. The outer foil 17 is larger than the aperture 15. The inner foil 18 is larger than the aperture 15. Both the inner and the outer foils overlap the edges of the tearoff tongue 14 in its aperture 15. The vertical section of FIGURE 4 taken on line lV-IV of FIGURE 3 shows the relationship between the two foils 17 and 18 and the cap 10, its aperture 15, and its tear-off tongue 14 in the aperture 15 in the assembled unit. The tear-off tongue 14 positioned in the middle of the assembly is completely enclosed within the combined foils 17 and 18. The aperture 15 around the tear-off tongue 14 receives the foils 17 and 18 which are joined together where they extend through the aperture and through the notch 16 in the tongue 14. The junction between the foils 17 and 18 through one of the notches 16 is also illustrated in FIGURE 5. The inner foil 18 joins the outer foil 17.

Thus, the tear-off tongue 14 is covered completely by the outer foil 17 at its outer surface and by the inner foil 18 at its inner surface. The foils 17 and 18 are fastened by sticking, welding or any other method. As illustrated in the described embodiment, the foils 17 and 18 may be thin resin films joined together by suitable adhesive on the facing surfaces. The adhesive, not shown, also serves to attach the foils to the tear-off tongue 14. The inner foil 18 attached beneath the tongue 14 is somewhat larger than the rectangle of the aperture 15. Accordingly, the tear-ofi." tongue is held by the inner foil 18 so that under normal conditions the tongue 14 cannot be bent out of its position. As the top foil 17 extends over the edges of the aperture 15 at the upper and lower edges, the tear-off tongue 14 is also protected against unintentionally being pressed inwardly of the cap 10. Thus, the combination of the two foils 17 and 18 is suited to fix the tear-off tongue 14 exactly in alinement with the curvature of the cap 10 as illustrated.

Another desirable feature illustrated is the extension of the top foil 18 over the tip of tongue 14. The foil 17 has an extended portion 20 defined by the rectangle E, F, G, and H, as shown in FIGURE 1. This tip-like extended portion 20 of the relatively soft foil material lies outside of the periphery of the cap 10. The extended portion 20 may be grasped when pulling off the tearotf strip 12 to open the cap. The extension portion 20 is first grasped to bend the tear-off tongue out of its position in alinement wtih the curvature of the cap. Then the completely enclosed tear-off tongue 14 may easily be grasped by finger pressure. In lifting the tear-off tongue 14 by pulling on the extended portion 20, the foils 17 and 18 remain attached to the tear-01f tongue 14. The bond between the foils 17 and 18 at the notches 16 serve to hold the foils 17 and 18 on the tongue during 9 the removal operation.

The arrangement of the foils with the tear-off tongue of this invention and as described above in the preferred embodiment provides a tongue on a container cap tearoff strip which is protected and yet readily accessible.

'The foil material may be colored differently than the tion be limited only by the scope of the attached claims.

What is claim is:

1. A sealing cap for containers comprising a cap having a main portion and a removable portion, said removable portion being provided with a weakened line girdling said cap, an edge formed within said cap wall defining an aperture through the wall, a tongue formed of said sealing cap with said aperture attached at said weakened line, the peripheral edge of said tongue defining said aperture formed in said cap at said tongue and adjacent to said weakened line; and a foil cover comprised of at least two areas adhered around said tongue and lying partially in said aperture, said tongue being positioned in said aperture so as to provide said partial inter-position of said foil cover.

2. A sealing cap as claimed in claim 1 having notches formed in said tongue lateral to an extension of said weakened line so constructed and arranged as to provide engagement of the adhered together foil areas within the extension of the weakened line.

3. A sealing cap as claimed in claim 1 wherein the foil cover is made up of at least two pieces of foil adhered together at said aperture and around said tongue.

4. A sealing cap as claimed in claim 1 in which said foil cover is composed of a flexible material.

5. A sealing cap according to claim 1 wherein one of said foils extends beyond the end of the tongue constructed and arranged as an extended tip capable of being grasped.

6. A. sealing cap according to claim 1 wherein said parts of said foil cover are of greater dimension than said aperture.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,554,115 Miller Sept. 15, 1925 2,994,449 Ritzenhoif Aug. 1, 1961 

1. A SEALING CAP FOR CONTAINERS COMPRISING A CAP HAVING A MAIN PORTION AND A REMOVABLE PORTION, SAID REMOVABLE PORTION BEING PROVIDED WITH A WEAKENED LINE GIRDLING SAID CAP, AN EDGE FORMED WITHIN SAID CAP WALL DEFINING AN APERTURE THROUGH THE WALL, A TONGUE FORMED OF SAID SEALING CAP WITH SAID APERTURE ATTACHED AT SAID WEAKENED LINE, THE PERIPHERAL EDGE OF SAID TONGUE DEFINING SAID APERTURE FORMED IN SAID CAP AT SAID TONGUE AND ADJACENT TO SAID WEAKENED LINE; AND A FOIL COVER COMPRISED OF AT LEAST TWO AREAS ADHERED AROUND SAID TONGUE AND LYING PARTIALLY IN SAID APERTURE, SAID TONGUE BEING POSITIONED IN SAID APERTURE SO AS TO PROVIDE SAID PARTIAL INTER-POSITION OF SAID FOIL COVER. 